


Secrets

by Fiery_Keys



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Action, Adventure, Angst, F/M, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 08:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11101014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiery_Keys/pseuds/Fiery_Keys
Summary: A broken promise. A lost memory. A heart torn in two. When Juvia Lockser, S-class assassin of Phantom Lord is given her toughest mission ever, her world changes completely. Upon meeting the cheerful Prince Natsu Dragneel and his enticing bodyguard Gray Fullbuster, she learns that everyone has secrets. Some of them lying within her own past as well. Gruvia. AU.





	1. Prologue

****

Secrets  
Prologue

 

__

It was almost over. The war had raged on for two days and two nights, but now, it was finally coming to an end. The battlefield was dotted with the bodies of dead Fiorian wizards who had fought bravely against the invading force. Their blood stained the ground crimson. It was like a scene out of a horror movie, only this was real. 

Amongst fire and smoke, making their way through the corpses were two girls, running for their lives. They weren’t older than ten; their parents were nowhere in sight. Behind them, the great Heartfilia castle, that had stood for generations, crumbled and collapsed. In the midnight sky, the moon was blood red; dark and forbidding.

In the ruins of the Heartfilia castle, a man dressed in black smiled serenely at Queen Layla Heartfilia as she stood, covered in grime and blood, glaring at him fiercely. Her hands clutched a key ring of golden and silver keys to her chest.

“It’s over, Layla,” Zeref Dragneel said calmly. “Surrender and hand over your daughter to me. There is nowhere for you to run. King Jude has already fallen. You are next.”

“I will never give my daughter to you!” Layla spat. “So you can just forget it, Zeref.”

Zeref’s eyes narrowed. “None of this would’ve happened if you had simply kept your promise to me, Layla. I thought Celestial Wizards always keep their promises?”

“My daughter’s life was at stake!”

“I do not care about your daughter. All that matters is the promise you made to me.” Zeref raised his hand. An orb of black energy swirled within his palm. “Enough of chit chat. This ends now, Layla.”

“Not quite,” Layla said coolly. As Zeref flung his attack at her, she dodged it by a hair’s breadth. A golden sheen of magic swirled around her body and she disappeared on the spot.

Zeref lowered his hand slowly, gazing at the spot where Layla had previously stood. “She escaped? No matter. She will not get far.” A dark smirk crossed his face. “Layla Heartfilia and her daughter shall fall today. I will make sure of it.”

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

The princess of Fiore, Lucy Heartfilia was running across the battlefield, hand in hand with her best friend, Juvia Lockser. As she looked over her shoulder at the falling castle, a tear slipped down her cheek at the sight of the only home she’d ever had being reduced to dust and rubble.  
Juvia glanced at her worriedly. “Princess, we have to hurry.”

Lucy’s lip trembled slightly. “I want Mama….”

“The Queen will catch up to us shortly, Princess. In the meantime, we have to run!”

“But-“

“Lucy!”

Both girls swung around as Queen Layla materialized a few feet from them.

“Mama!”

“Queen Layla!”

Layla hurried to them. “Good, you two are alright. We have to hurry out of here.”

“What about Papa?” Lucy asked anxiously. “We have to find him!”

A shadow crossed Layla’s face. “Lucy, your father is-“

 

She was interrupted by a huge explosion no far away from them. Lucy and Juvia cowered in fear as Layla stepped forward warily.

The blood drained from her face.

They were surrounded by demons of Tartaros.

“There’s the Princess!” One of them shouted. “Aim for her!”

Several bolts of black magic spiraled through the air and headed straight for a defenseless Lucy.

Layla threw herself in front of Lucy. Her four golden zodiac gate keys zoomed into the air in front of her in a wide arc and formed a shield which immediately made the spells bounce back. All the demons except one fell. The last remaining fired a powerful explosive spell at Layla. The minute the spell struck the shield, there was a huge explosion. The demon flew back and was knocked out instantly. Layla took the brunt of the damage and collapsed, her keys clattering to the ground.

“Mama!” Lucy screamed and ran to her mother’s fallen form, Juvia not far behind. Falling to her knees in the pool of blood around Layla, Lucy clutched the queen’s hand. “Mama, say something.”

Layla coughed up blood and struggled to sit up. “Lu-cy-“ She rasped. “Run-away-“

Lucy shook her head adamantly and sobbed. “I won’t! How can you even ask me that, Mama?!”

“Lucy-“

“I won’t!”

“Listen to me, Lucy,” Layla whispered. She gathered her keys with a shaking hand and held them out. “Take these.”

“These are your-“

“Treat them well,” Layla insisted. “Never abuse them. Oh, Lucy,” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry-this is all my fault-“

“Mama-“

Layla looked at Juvia. “Protect her,” She pleaded.

Juvia’s face was as pale as death, but she nodded shakily. “I-I will.”

Layla drew Lucy close and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Lucy. Now, run!”

Juvia caught Lucy’s hand and began to pull away. The princess began to struggle. “No! No! Let go of me, Juvia! Mama!”

Layla drew in a shuddering breath. “Do what you were always destined to do, Lucy-“

Her voice died away to a mere whisper.

“Defeat….END…….”

Her eyes closed forever.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

‘Almost there,’ Juvia thought, panting. ‘I have to get the Princess away from this place-“

Lucy was still struggling against Juvia’s hold, but her resistance was futile. Juvia was older and stronger and was definitely determined not to let go of her hand, no matter what.

Juvia’s foot caught on a stone and she crashed to the ground, pulling Lucy down with her. “Ugh,” She hissed, clutching her forehead and then realized with a gasp that she had let go of Lucy. Springing to her feet, Juvia looked around desperately. “Princess! Princess, where are you?!”

A dark shadow loomed over her.

Juvia felt a lump form in her throat as she slowly turned.

A hand touched her forehead and she forgot.


	2. The Betrothal

Chapter-1  
The Betrothal

Juvia Lockser, S-class assassin of the illegal guild Phantom Lord, was stumped.

To be sure, it didn’t take much to faze her. But this…..this was ridiculous. Not just ridiculous, it was impossible. The person who had come up with this plan had to be crazy. 

Then again, Juvia had always secretly felt that Jose Porla was at least 90% insane.

“Is there something wrong, my dear?” The object of her thoughts asked sweetly.

She took a deep breath.

“So let Juvia get this straight,” Juvia said, not bothering to hide the disbelief that laced her tone. “You want Juvia to infiltrate the royal palace, get betrothed to Prince Natsu Dragneel and assassinate him once she gets close to him?”

“Yes,” Jose said smugly.

Juvia took a deep breath. She had been given all sorts of dangerous missions since she had turned S-class. Hell, she ate danger for breakfast. But this was definitely the craziest mission till date.

Jose was talking once more. “I have settled everything with Emperor Zeref. He agreed quite easily, in fact. The Emperor seemed rather pleased, in fact, about the betrothal. Even though he is known to be a genius, he still did not suspect anything.”

This sounded suspicious to Juvia. She had never seen the Emperor in person, but she had known he was talented both magically and intellectually. Then again, Jose was a lord and although he was the master of an illegal guild; no one other than the members of Phantom Lord knew about it.

“Why?” Juvia asked finally.

“What do you mean, my girl?”

“Why do you want to assassinate Prince Natsu?”

Jose shook his head. “Don’t you see, Juvia? Prince Natsu is the only heir to the throne. He is the Emperor’s younger brother; and more than that, his only family. With him out of the way, the only obstacle between us and the throne will be the Emperor himself.”

Juvia was still skeptical. “There are rumors that Zeref is immortal.”

Jose scoffed. “Immortality? Nonsense. No wizard can achieve that, no matter how powerful he is.”

Juvia remained silent, and Jose continued. “Still, Zeref is an incredibly powerful wizard. We don’t even know the extent of his abilities yet. That’s why we’ll deal with him later, we need to start small first.”

“Prince Natsu is a Dragon Slayer and is exceptionally strong.”

“Yes, but you are strong as well, my girl. I trained you myself, after all. And the whole point of you getting engaged to the Prince is for you to get close to him. He isn’t known to be a very suspicious person, so it should be quite easy for you. Once the Prince lets his guard down, kill him.”

“Easier said than done,” Juvia murmured. 

“Yes, well,” Jose glared at her. “I expect you to be successful, got it? Or else.”

Juvia flinched slightly but nodded.

“Very well. Do whatever it takes to fulfill your mission.”

“Juvia will.”

“Excellent,” Jose gave her an oily smile. “Dismissed. Report back to me tomorrow, same time. We have more to discuss.”

Juvia bowed in acknowledgement and left the room.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

13 years ago, the kingdom of Fiore had been plunged into a brutal and bloody war. Citizens, wizards, men, women and children alike; countless people had lost their lives. The previous beloved monarchs of Fiore, Layla and Jude Heartfilia had fallen in battle. Their daughter Lucy, had gone missing. Since then, Zeref Dragneel had taken the throne and ruled as Emperor over Fiore; with his brother Natsu as the prince.

Once Zeref had taken control of Fiore, he banned all guilds. This was met by outrage by the public; but Zeref was simply too powerful a ruler to rebel against. It had taken a few years for the country to settle down. Layla and Jude were almost forgotten in the general chaos. Only their daughter, Lucy was remembered.

This was because Zeref was searching for her. For unknown reasons, he wished to eradicate the entire Heartfilia family. Lucy Heartfilia became the most infamous person in Fiore, Undesirable Number One. She was referred to by the general populace as the ‘Fugitive Princess’.

Although 13 years had passed, she was never found. There were the typical, rumors, claims and false leads being thrown around, but none of them actually amounted to anything.

Juvia sat in the archives of Phantom Lord looking for information about Zeref. There wasn’t much. Almost everything about the war had been suppressed by Zeref and the Magic Council. Though the details of the war were sketchy in themselves. It seemed as if the attack on Fiore by Zeref’s army was completely unprompted. More than a simple attack, it was more like a brutal massacre.

Juvia shut a heavy tome with a sigh. It wasn’t getting her anywhere.

Getting up, she exited the archives in favor of walking through the halls of the Phantom Lord headquarters, allowing her mind to wander.

Since guilds were illegal, Phantom Lord’s building was disguised as a rundown abandoned building on the outskirts of Oak Town. It was enchanted to look filthy and small on the outside, but the inside was large and spotless. Anyone who didn’t bear the guild emblem couldn’t enter. If they did attempt to step through the doors, they would immediately remember some other important task and run off.

Juvia couldn’t remember anything before coming to Phantom Lord. She had been abandoned by her parents at the age of ten, right before the war. She had almost been starving to death when Jose found her and took her to Phantom Lord. Since he had saved her life, Juvia was pretty much willing to do anything for him.

Jose was her adopted father, but……..he hadn’t been the kindest of men. Far from it, actually. Juvia preferred not to think about the times he had beaten and abused her while she was still in training to be a wizard. She tried not to think badly of Jose. She really did. But sometimes, it got to be really tough.

Juvia used water magic. Water mages weren’t too rare, but Juvia was one of the more powerful ones out there. Jose’s method of training had been harsh, but thanks to it, she was one of the most skillful assassins of Phantom Lord. Unlike her fellow members, who liked to play with their targets before killing them, Juvia preferred to do it quickly and without a mess.

“Oi! Juvia!”

Shaken out of her musings, the water mage turned around and looked at the speaker. “Totomaru,” She said coolly.

Totomaru, a fire wizard, grinned. “I heard you’ve been given some new mission from Jose.”

Juvia raised an eyebrow. Word sure did get around fast. “Maybe,” She said cagily. 

“Aw, don’t be like that. A hint, at least?”

“No,” Juvia said bluntly. “It’s classified information. Juvia’s been ordered not to tell.”

Totomaru sighed. “Fine,” He suddenly peered at her face. “Hey…..there are bags under your eyes. Not been sleeping well?”

Juvia absentmindedly raised a hand to touch her face. “Something like that.”

 

Night after night, Juvia was plagued with nightmares. It was the same dream, over and over. A great castle crumbling to the ground, a woman; whose face Juvia could never remember, writhing in pain, two girls, suspiciously familiar, running hand in hand across a blood stained battlefield. Fire and smoke. Demons. Bloodthirsty soldiers. That nightmare was one of the few things Juvia was absolutely terrified of. 

She’d wake up, gasping in fear and wouldn’t be able to sleep for the rest of the night. 

This had become almost a routine for Juvia, a part of her everyday life. It didn’t stop her from dreading it every night, though.

Walking away from Totomaru, Juvia paused by an open window and gazed out at the twilight. The sky was slowly being lit up by the stars. The sweet voice of a child echoed in her mind.

‘See, Juvia, those are the constellations. Mother taught me all about them! That one’s Taurus, and…..’

Wincing, Juvia massaged her temples, hissing at the sudden, pounding pain. She got headaches like this often, mostly after a nightmare. 

I can’t understand it, Juvia thought, a scowl on her face. Why do I keep having these….visions?!

Something was about to change. As Juvia gazed out at the night sky, she felt it very strongly. Something was about to change. Across Fiore, in the Fairy Tail guild, Mavis Vermillion felt it. In the royal castle, Zeref Dragneel felt it as he caressed a leather bound book in his hands. 

Something was about to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: The Fugitive Princess


End file.
